Are you struggling with a rat problem?
You aren’t alone. A survey performed in 2017 found that 1 in 3 Americans spotted a rodent in their home during the previous year.
Rat problems are a growing concern.
If you don’t approach this problem without a plan, then you aren’t going to succeed when you try to get rid of rats. You need to know what to do.
Below are seven tips you can use to get rid of your pest problem.
1. Keep Rats Away From Food
Rats need to eat too. Most families do their fair share in making sure that rats have a proper meal.
If you don’t keep your home clean and take precautions, you’re ensuring that rats have a food source in your home.
If you want to get rid of rats, then make sure you clean up after your family and yourself. Put all food waste in the trash where it belongs and get it outside as soon as your trash bag fills up.
If you have any food debris on the floor, make sure you sweep or vacuum it up. This makes sure you don’t have anything laying around for rats to snack on.
You won’t always think of sealing snacks. Make sure everything is in a sealed container or a Ziploc so that it doesn’t become a snack for rats.
2. Seal Up Any Holes
Rats are bigger than mice and need a lot of water. They will travel outside more than a mouse will.
Because of this, you can trap them when they go outside. Make sure any holes into your house are plugged up.
If you think that a hole is too small for a rat to fit through, you’re probably wrong. A rat can squeeze into tight spaces. If the hole is around the size of a quarter, a rat will be able to squeeze through.
3. Remove Spots For Rats to Climb Into Your Home
If you have any shrubs or trees near your home, this can be an entry point for rats.
As time goes on these things can grow and make contact with your home. Rats are climbers and can use these to get to higher levels. If you have any cracks in your siding or windows, then a rat can use these spots to get into your house.
4. Set Traps
Once you’ve figured out the habits of the rats in your home, it’s time to set some traps. You have the option to kill the rat or catch and release.
If you decide to catch and release, you will need to purchase a container to hold your trapped rats. You can buy mouse rat bait at the store and place it in the container. After that, it’s a waiting game.
If you decide to kill the rats, then you will need to purchase the appropriate trap. You can use either bait or rat poison to accomplish this.
If you go the poison rat, then make sure you take precautions. If you have pets or children, then you will need to use the poison in a place that others won’t be able to bother it.
Once you kill your rat, check with your local authorities to find out the proper way to dispose of it. If you are releasing your rat, then find a place away from your home to let it go.
5. Figure Out Where Your Rats Live
All rats aren’t the same. There are different breeds, and they each have their unique habits.
Before you come up with your rat removal plan, you need to identify what kind of rats you have and how they act during the day.
Your first goal should be to figure out where the rats live. There are several signs you can look for to find their homes.
Wherever they live, you will likely find gnaw marks and droppings. While they can appear anywhere in your home, they will be more common around the point of infestation.
Rats usually enter your home at its base through holes, so the first place to check is the walls at ground level.
Some rats will stay at ground level. But other species of rats, such as Norway rats, will make their way up to your attic areas.
6. Use Essential Oils
Rats need a specific environment to build their nests. When you expose rats to essential oils, it disrupts their environment and makes it hard for them to keep living in the same place.
This makes essential oils one of the safest and most effective ways to deal with rats. Since you are driving them out of your home, you don’t have to deal with the rat itself.
A study done with the use of eucalyptus oil confirmed this finding. In conditions where the oil was present, researchers saw much less activity from rats.
7. Hire a Professional
Some rat infestations are easy to handle. You can set a trap, capture the rat, and set it free in the wild.
But what happens when you have a more severe infestation? Sometimes you don’t have the resources to deal with the problem yourself.
When this happens, it makes more sense to call a professional service to deal with your rat problem. A professional will be able to identify the rats in your home and come up with a plan to get rid of them.
A good service will also be able to follow your requests for getting rid of your problem. This means if you want to handle things in a non-lethal way, a professional service will be able to manage your rat problem without hurting them.
Make Sure You Get Rid of Rats Before They Become a Problem
Rodents are the last thing you want to leave in your home. Make sure you get rid of rats before they bring any more damage and disease to your home.
If you follow the seven steps above, you’re on your way to dealing with them.
Are you looking for more tips for dealing with home problems? Head over to our article section to learn the best ways to deal with common household problems.
